4.2 kiloyear BP aridification event, likely the cause of collapse of Old Kingdom in Egypt and the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia

2200 BC

Completion of Stonehenge

2070 BC

Yu the Great established the Xia Dynasty in China

2000 BC

Domestication of the horse

Believed birth year of Abraham in Mesopotamia, father of the Abrahamic religions

1800 BC

Alphabetic writing emerges

1600 BC

Minoan civilization on Crete is destroyed by the Minoan eruption of Santorini island, Mycenaean Greece, the beginning of Shang Dynasty in China, Beginning of Hittite dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean region

Evidence of a fully developed Chinese writing system

1500 BC

During 1500 - 0 BC ancient societies invent some of the first machines for moving water and agriculture

Composition of the Rigveda is completed

1496 BC

Traditional date for giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai ushering in monotheistic religion

c. 1400 BC

Birth of Moses

1400 - 400 BC

Olmec civilization flourishes in Pre-Columbian Mexico, during Mesoamerica's Formative period

1200 BC

The Hallstatt culture

Iron Age

1200 - 1150 BC

Bronze Age collapse in Southwestern Asia and in the Eastern Mediterranean region. This period is also the setting of the Iliad and the Odyssey epic poems, which were composed about four centuries later.

c. 1180 BC

Disintegration of Hittite Empire

1100 BC

Use of iron spreads

1046 BC

The Zhou force, led by King Wu of Zhou, overthrow the last king of Shang Dynasty; Zhou Dynasty established in China

1020 to 930 BC

The beginning of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy) occurred sometime between these dates

890 BC

Approximate date for the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey

800 BC

Rise of Greek city-states

Classical antiquity

776 BC

First recorded Olympic Games

753 BC

Founding of Rome

745 BC

Tiglath-Pileser III becomes the new king of Assyria. With time he conquers neighboring countries and turns Assyria into an empire

728 BC

Rise of the Median Empire

722 BC

Spring and Autumn Period begins in China; Zhou Dynasty's power is diminishing; the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought

700 BC

The construction of Marib Dam in Arabia Felix

660 BC

Purported date of the accession of Jimmu, the mythical first Emperor of Japan

653 BC

Rise of Persian Empire

612 BC

An alliance between the Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians succeeds in destroying Nineveh and causing subsequent fall of the Assyrian empire

Construction of the Great Pyramid of Cholula, the world's largest pyramid by volume (the Great Pyramid of Giza built 2560 BC Egypt stands 146.5 meters, making it 91.5 meters taller), begins in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico

273 BC

Ashoka the Great becomes the emperor of the Mauryan Empire

261 BC

Kalinga war

257 BC

Thục Dynasty takes over Việt Nam (then Kingdom of Âu Lạc)

250 BC

Rise of Parthia (Ashkâniân), the second native dynasty of ancient Persia

232 BC

Decline of the Mauryan Empire

Death of Emperor Ashoka the Great

230 BC

Emergence of Satavahanas in South India

221 BC

Qin Shi Huang unifies China, end of Warring States period; marking the beginning of Imperial rule in China which lasts until 1912. Construction of the Great Wall by the Qin Dynasty begins

207 BC

Kingdom of Nan Yueh extends from Canton to North Việt Nam

206 BC

Han Dynasty established in China, after the death of Qin Shi Huang; China in this period officially becomes a Confucian state and opens trading connections with the West, i.e. the Silk Road

202 BC

Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal at Battle of Zama

c. 200 BC

El Mirador, largest early Maya city, flourishes, Chera dynasty emerges in South India

Paper is invented in China

185 BC

Shunga Empire founded

150 - 100 BC

First gear-driven, precision clockwork machine (the Antikythera mechanism) is developed

149 - 146 BC

Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage. War ends with the complete destruction of Carthage, allowing Rome to conquer modern day Tunisia and Libya

146 BC

Roman conquest of Greece

129 BC

Roman conquest of Turkey

121 BC

Roman armies enter Gaul for the first time

111 BC

First Chinese domination of Việt Nam in the form of the Nanyue Kingdom

c. 100 BC

Chola dynasty rises in prominence

80 BC

The city of Florence is founded

c. 50 BC

Roman engineer Vitruvius perfects the modern, vertical water wheel

49 BC

Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great

44 BC

End of Roman Republic; beginning of Roman Empire

Julius Caesar murdered by Marcus Brutus and others

40 BC

Roman conquest of Egypt

27 BC

Formation of Roman Empire: Octavius is given titles of Princeps and Augustus by Roman Senate - beginning of Pax Romana, formation of influential Praetorian Guard to provide security to Emperor

18 BC

Three Kingdoms period begins in Korea, the temple of Jerusalem is reconstructed

Romulus Augustus, last Western Roman Emperor is forced to abdicate by Odoacer, a chieftain of the Germanic Heruli; Odoacer returns the imperial regalia to Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in Constantinople in return for the title of dux of Italy; most frequently cited date for the end of ancient history

c. 500

Battle of Mons Badonicus

507

The Franks under Clovis defeat the Visigoths in the Battle of Vouillé

c. 524

Boethius writes his Consolation of Philosophy

525

Dionysius Exiguus publishes the Dionysius Exiguus' Easter table

527

Justinian I becomes Eastern Roman Emperor.

529

Benedict of Nursia founds monastery at Monte Cassino

529 - 534

Justinian I publishes the Code of Civil Law

532

Nika Riots in Constantinople

533

Byzantines, under Belisarius, retake North Africa from the Vandals

535 - 554

Gothic War in Italy as a part of Justinian's Reconquest

563

Saint Columba founds mission in Iona

568

The Kingdom of the Lombards is founded in Italy

c. 570

Birth of Muhammad

577

The West Saxons continue their advance at the Battle of Deorham

581 - 618

Sui Dynasty in China

590

Gregory the Great becomes Pope

597

Augustine arrives in Kent

598 - 668

Massive Chinese (Sui and Tang) invasions against Korean Goguryeo

7th Century

602 - 629

Last great Roman-Persian War

604 - 609

Grand Canal in China is fully completed

618 - 907

Tang Dynasty in China

622

Muhammad Migrates from Mecca to Medina

626

Joint Persian-Avar-Slav Siege of Constantinople Constantinople saved, Avar power broken and Persians henceforth on the defensive

627

Battle of Nineveh

632

Death of Muhammad, accession of Abu Bakr as first Caliph

633 - 634

Battle of Heavenfield

638

Jerusalem captured by the Arab army, mostly Muslims, but with contingents of Syrian Christians

641

Battle of Nehawand, muslims conquer Persia

643

Arab Army led by 'Amr ibn al-'As takes Alexandria

645

In Japan, the Soga clan falls

650

Slav occupation of Balkans complete

663

Synod of Whitby

668

End of the Three Kingdoms period in Korea

674 - 678

First Arab siege of Constantinople

681

Establishment of the Bulgarian Empire

685

Battle of Dun Nechtain

687

Battle of Tertry

698

Arab army takes Carthage, North South States Period begins in Korea

8th Century

711

Umayyad conquest of Hispania under Tarik

718

Second Arab attack on Constantinople, ending in failure

726

Iconoclast movement begun in the Byzantine Empire under Leo III. This was opposed by Pope Gregory II, and an important difference between the Roman and Byzantine churches

732

Battle of Tours, Charles Martel halts Muslim advance

735

Death of Bede

750 - 850

Chinese invent gunpowder and fireworks

750

Beginning of Abbasid Caliphate

751

Pepin the Short founds the Carolingian dynasty

754

Pepin promises the Pope central Italy–this is arguably the beginning of the temporal power of the Papacy

768

Beginning of Charlemagne's reign

778

Battle of Roncevaux Pass

786

Accession of Harun al-Rashid to the Caliphate in Baghdad

793

Sack of Lindisfarne, viking attacks on Britain begin

794

Heian period in Japan

795

Death of Offa

800

Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor

9th Century

814

Death of Charlemagne

825

Battle of Ellandun, Egbert defeats Mercians

827

Muslims invade Sicily

840

Muslims capture Bari and much of southern Italy

843

Division of Charlemagne's Empire between his grandsons with the Treaty of Verdun, Kenneth McAlpin becomes king of the Picts and Scots, creating the Kingdom of Alba

862

Viking state in Russia founded under Rurik, first at Novgorod, then Kiev

864

Christianization of Bulgaria

866

Fujiwara period in Japan, Viking Great Army arrives in England

868

Earliest known printed book in China with a date

871

Alfred the Great assumes the throne, the first king of a united England

c. 872

Harold Fairhair becomes King of Norway

874

Iceland is settled by Norsemen

882

Kievan Rus' is established

885

Arrival of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Bulgaria

885 - 886

Vikings attack Paris

893

Simeon I becomes ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in the Balkans

896

Arpad and the Magyars are present in Pannonia

899

Death of Alfred the Great

10th Century

c. 900

Mayan Empire collapses

907

Tang Dynasty ends with Emperor Ai deposed, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in China commences

910

King Edward the Elder of England, son of King Alfred, defeats the Northumbrian Vikings at the Battle of Tettenhall; they never raid south of the River Humber again, Cluny Abbey is founded by William I, Count of Auvergne

911

The Viking Rollo and his tribe settle in what is now Normandy by the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, founding the Duchy of Normandy

917

Battle of Anchialus. Simeon I the Great defeats the Byzantines

919

Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony elected German King–first king of the Ottonian Dynasty

925

The first King of Croatia, Tomislav of the Trpimirović dynasty, was crowned

927

King Aethelstan the Glorious unites the heptarchy of The Anglo-Saxon nations of Wessex, Sussex, Essex, Kent, East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria founding the Kingdom of England

Death of Simeon I the Great, recognition of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, the first independent National Church in Europe

929

Abd-ar-Rahman III of the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus–part of the Iberian peninsula–takes the title of Caliph or ruler of the Islamic world

936

Wang Geon unified Later Three Kingdoms of Korea

955

Battle of Lechfeld, Otto the Great, son of Henry the Fowler, defeats the Magyars

c. 960

Mieszko I becomes duke of Polans, Song Dynasty begins after Emperor of Taizu usurps the throne from the Later Zhou, last of the Five Dynasties

962

Otto the Great crowned the Holy Roman Emperor

963 - 964

Otto the Great deposes Pope John XII who is replaced with Pope Leo VIII

965 - 967

Mieszko I of Poland and his court embrace Christianity, which becomes national religion

969

John I Tzimiskes the last Byzantium empire and Nikephoros II are being executed

Volodymyr I of Kiev embrace Christianity, which becomes national religion

989

Peace and Truce of God formed

11th Century and High Middle Ages

c. 1001

Leif Ericson is to settle during the winter in present-day Canada at L'Anse aux Meadows

1016

Canute the Great becomes King of England after the death of Edmund Ironside, with whom he shared the English throne

1018

The Byzantines under Basil II conquer Bulgaria after a bitter 50-years struggle

1021

The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu, is completed sometime before this date

1037

The Great Seljuk Empire is founded by Tughril Beg

1049

Pope Leo IX ascends to the papal throne

1050

The astrolabe, an ancient tool of navigation, is first used in Europe

1054

The East-West Schism which divided the church into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy

1066

William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades England and becomes King after the Battle of Hastings

1067

Pope Gregory VII elevated to the papal throne

1071

The Seljuks under Alp Arslan defeat the Byzantine army at Manzikert, the Normans capture Bari–the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy

1075

Dictatus Papae in which Pope Gregory VII defines the powers of the pope

1077

Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV walks to Canossa where he stands barefoot in the snow to beg forgiveness of the Pope for his offences, and admitting defeat in the Investiture Controversy

The Construction of the Tower of London begins

1086

The compilation of the Domesday Book, a great land and property survey commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess his new possessions

1088

University of Bologna is formed

1095

Pope Urban issues the Crusades to capture the Holy Land, and to repel the Seljuk Turks from the Byzantine Empire from Alexios I Komnenos

1096

First Crusade, Jerusalem is re-taken from the Muslims on the urging of Pope Urban II

1098

The Cistercian Order is founded

12th Century

1102

Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Hungary formed a personal union of two kingdoms united under the Hungarian king. The act of union was deal with Pacta conventa, by which institutions of separate Croatian statehood were maintained through the Sabor (an assembly of Croatian nobles) and the ban (viceroy)

1106

Henry I of England defeats his older brother Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Tinchebrai, and imprisons him in Devizes castle; Edgar Atheling and William Clito are also taken prisoner

1107

Through the Compromise of 1107, suggested by Adela, the sister of King Henry, the Investiture Struggle in England is ended

1109

In the Battle of Naklo, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats the Pomeranians, In the Battle of Hundsfeld, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats Emperor Henry V

1116

The Byzantine army defeats the Turks at Philomelion

1117

The University of Oxford is founded

1118

The Knights Templar are founded to protect Jerusalem and European pilgrims on their journey to the city

1121

St. Norbert and 29 companions make their solemn vows marking the beginning of the Premonstratensian Order

1122

The Concordat of Worms was drawn up between Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II

1123

The First Lateran Council followed and confirmed the Concordat of Worms

1125

Lothair of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony, is elected Holy Roman Emperor instead of the nearest heir, Frederick of Swabia

1125 - 1127

Jingkang Incident

1130

Roger II is crowned King of Sicily, a royal title given him by the Antipope Anacletus II

1135

The Anarchy begins in England

1139

The Second Lateran Council declared clerical marriages invalid, regulated clerical dress, and punished attacks on clerics by excommunication

1147 - 1149

The Second Crusade was in retaliation for the fall of Edessa, one of the first Crusader States founded in the First Crusade–it was an overall failure

1150

Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, married Queen Petronilla of Aragon–hey had been betrothed in 1137

1152

The Synod of Kells-Mellifont established the present diocesan system of Ireland (with later modifications) and recognized the primacy of Armagh

1158

The Hanseatic League is founded

c. 1162

Birth of Temüjin, the Genghis Khan

1163

The first cornerstone is laid for the construction of Notre Dame de Paris

1166

Stefan Nemanja united Serbian territories, establishing the Medieval Serbian state

1171

King Henry II of England lands in Ireland to assert his supremacy and the Synod of Cashel acknowledges his sovereignty

1174

King William I of Scotland, captured in the Battle of Alnwick by the English, accepts the feudal lordship of the English crown and does ceremonial allegiance at York

1175

Hōnen Shōnin (Genkū) founds the Jōdo shū (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism

1176

At the Battle of Legnano, the cavalry of Frederick Barbarossa is defeated by the infantry of the Lombard League

1179

The Third Lateran Council limits papal electees to the cardinals alone, condemns simony, and forbids the promotion of anyone to the episcopate before the age of thirty

1183

The final Peace of Constance between Frederick Barbarossa, the pope, and the Lombard towns is signed, the Taira clan are driven out of Kyōto by Minamoto Yoshinaka

1184

Pope Lucius III issues the papal bull Ad Abolendam

1185

The reestablishment of the Bulgarian Empire, at the Battle of Dan no Ura, Minamoto Yoshitsune annihilates the Taira clan

The Third Crusade follows upon Saladin's uniting the Muslim world and recapturing Jerusalem

1192

Minamoto no Yoritomo is appointed Sei-i Taishōgun, or shōgun for short

1193

Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji sack and burn the university at Nalanda

The first known merchant guild

1199

Europeans first use compasses

13th Century

1202

The Fourth Crusade sacked Croatian town of Zadar, a rival of Venice. Unable to raise enough funds to pay to their Venetian contractors, the crusaders agreed to sack the city despite letters from Pope Innocent III forbidding such an action and threatening excommunication

1204

Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade

1205

Battle of Adrianople, the Bulgarians under Emperor Kaloyan defeat Baldwin I

1206

Genghis Khan was elected as Khagan of the Mongols and the Mongol Empire was established

1208

Pope Innocent III calls for the Albigensian Crusade which seeks to destroy a rival form of Christianity practiced by the Cathars

1209

Founding of the Franciscan Order

The University of Cambridge is founded

1212

Spanish Christians succeed in defeating the Moors in the long Reconquista campaigns, after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

1215

The Magna Carta is sealed by John of England, Fourth Lateran Council–dealt with transubstantiation, papal primacy and conduct of clergy–proclaimed that Jews and Muslims should wear identification marks to distinguish them from Christians

1216

Papal recognition of the Dominican Order

1219

Serbian Orthodox Church becomes autocephalous under St. Sava, its first Archbishop

1227

Death of Genghis Khan

1237 - 1240

Mongol invasion of Rus' resumes

1257

Provisions of Oxford forced upon Henry III of England

Founding of the University of Paris

1258

Siege of Baghdad

1272 - 1273

The Ninth Crusade occurs

1273

Rudolph I of Germany is elected Holy Roman Emperor

1274

Thomas Aquinas' work, Summa Theologica is published, after his death

1279

Battle of Yamen

1282

Sicilian Vespers, sicilians massacre Angevins over a six-week period, after a Frenchman harassed a woman

1283

Catalan Courts

1296

Edward I of England invades Scotland, starting the First War of Scottish Independence

1297

The Battle of Stirling Bridge

1298

Marco Polo publishes his tales of China, along with Rustichello da Pisa

1299

The Ottoman Empire is founded by Osman I

14th Century and Late Middle Ages

1305

William Wallace is executed for treason

1307

The Knights Templar are rounded up and murdered by Philip the Fair of France, with the backing of the Pope, beginning of the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy during which the Popes moved to Avignon

1310

Dante publishes his Divine Comedy

1314

Battle of Bannockburn

1325

The Aztecs found the city of Tenochtitlan

1328

The First War of Scottish Independence ends in Scottish victory with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton and de jure independence

1333

Emperor Go-Daigo returns to the throne from exile, and begins the Kenmu restoration

1337

The Hundred Years' War begins–England and France struggle for a dominating position in Europe and their region

1346

Battle of Crécy

1347

The Black Death ravages Europe for the first of many times–an estimated 20% - 40% of the population is thought to have perished within the first year

The University of Prague is founded

1368

The fall of the Yuan Dynasty–its remnants, known as Northern Yuan, continued to rule Mongolia

1370

Tamerlane establishes the Timurid Dynasty

1378

The Western Schism during which three claimant popes were elected simultaneously

1380

Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to a victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo

Chaucer begins to write The Canterbury Tales

1381

Peasants' Revolt in England

The Bible is translated into English by John Wycliffe

1386

The University of Heidelberg is founded

1389

Battle of Kosovo in Serbia

1392

Joseon Dynasty founded in Korea

1396

The Battle of Nicopolis

1397

The Kalmar Union is formed

1399

Richard II abdicates the throne to Henry of Bolingbroke, who becomes Henry IV of England

15th Century

1402

Battle of Ankara

1405

Chinese Naval Expeditions of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean (to Eastern Africa) begins, under the leadership of Zheng He

1409

Ladislaus of Naples sells his "rights" on Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for 100,000 ducats

1415

Kingdom of Portugal conquers Ceuta, Battle of Agincourt–Henry V and his army defeat a numerically superior French army, partially because of the newly introduced English longbow

1417

The Council of Constance ends

1419

Hussite Wars begins after 4 years after the death of Jan Hus in central Europe, dealing with the followers of Jan Hus and those against them

1429

Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orléans for the Dauphin of France, enabling him to eventually be crowned at Reims

1431

Trial and execution of Joan of Arc

1434

The Medici family rises to prominence in Florence

1439

Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press

1442

Battle of Szeben

1442

Battle of Varna

1453

Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks, The Hundred Years' War ends

1455

Battle of St. Albans

1456

Siege of Belgrade

1459

Smederevo falls under the Turks

1461

The Empire of Trebizond falls to the Ottoman Turks

1467 - 1477

Ōnin War takes place in Japan

1485

Battle of Bosworth Field

Thomas Malory composes Le Morte d'Arthur

1487

June 16 Battle of Stoke

1492

Reconquista ends, Christopher Columbus reaches the New World, Age of Discovery into the New World begins

1494

Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas and agree to divide the World outside of Europe between themselves

1494 - 1559

The Italian Wars

1497

Vasco da Gama begins his first voyage from Europe to India and back–Vasco da Gama was the first European to sail directly to Eastern Asia from Europe

1499

Ottoman fleet defeats Venetians at the Battle of Zonchio

The first naval battle that used cannons in ships

16th Century and Early Modern History

1928

The electric refrigerator is invented

1930s

Robert Watson Watt oversees the development of radar, Peter Goldmark pioneers color television

1939

Igor Sikorsky builds the first truly practical helicopter

1947

John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley invent the transistor, which allows electronic equipment to made much smaller and leads to the modern computer revolution

1949

Bernard Silver and N. Joseph Woodland patent barcodes—striped patterns that are initially developed for marking products in grocery stores